Psalms · Chapter 120

Verse 1. In my distress] Through the causes afterwards mentioned. I cried unto the Lord] Made strong supplication for help. And he heard one.] Answered my prayer by comforting my soul. It appears to be a prayer of the captives in Babylon for complete liberty; or perhaps he recites the prayer the Israelites had made previously to their restoration.

1. Distress… cried… heard—This serial form—trouble, prayer, and answer—was common for David, and his faith in God touching the answer, gathered from past experience, was the ground of all his hope.

Verse 2. Lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.] From a people without faith, without truth, without religion; who sought by lies and calumnies to destroy them.

Verses 2-4. Deliver my soul from lying lips — From the unjust censures and malicious slanders of mine enemies; and from a deceitful tongue — Which covers mischievous designs under pretences of kindness. What shall be given unto thee — By the righteous Judge of heaven and earth; thou false tongue — O thou false accuser, or slanderer, or whosoever thou art, that art guilty of any such like practices? Sharp arrows of the mighty — The wrath and vengeance of the almighty God, which in Scripture, and particularly in this book, is often compared to arrows, as Psalm 7:13, 14, &c., and here to arrows of the mighty, that is, arrows shot by the hands of a strong man; and to coals, Psalm 140:10, and here to coals of juniper, which burn very fiercely, and retain their heat for a long time. And the psalmist may possibly express himself in these words, to show the suitableness of the punishment to the sin. As if he had said, As thy tongue shoots arrows, (as calumnies are often called,) and kindles coals, so thou shalt bring God’s arrows and coals, kindled by the fire of his wrath, upon thyself.

2. Lying lips… deceitful tongue—The source of his present trouble, and more terrible than weapons of war.

Verse 3. What shall be given unto thee?] Thou art worthy of the heaviest punishments.

Verses 2-4. Deliver my soul from lying lips — From the unjust censures and malicious slanders of mine enemies; and from a deceitful tongue — Which covers mischievous designs under pretences of kindness. What shall be given unto thee — By the righteous Judge of heaven and earth; thou false tongue — O thou false accuser, or slanderer, or whosoever thou art, that art guilty of any such like practices? Sharp arrows of the mighty — The wrath and vengeance of the almighty God, which in Scripture, and particularly in this book, is often compared to arrows, as Psalm 7:13, 14, &c., and here to arrows of the mighty, that is, arrows shot by the hands of a strong man; and to coals, Psalm 140:10, and here to coals of juniper, which burn very fiercely, and retain their heat for a long time. And the psalmist may possibly express himself in these words, to show the suitableness of the punishment to the sin. As if he had said, As thy tongue shoots arrows, (as calumnies are often called,) and kindles coals, so thou shalt bring God’s arrows and coals, kindled by the fire of his wrath, upon thyself.

3. What shall be given… thee—It is more natural and consistent to take this grammatically obscure verse as an address to the tongue of guile: “What shall be given thee?” or rather, “What shall he [God] give to thee?” that is, as a punishment. The question is put sarcastically, and the anticipated answer is brought out in the next verse.

V. 4. Arrows-The wrath and vengeance of the mighty God, which in scripture is often compared to arrows, and here to coals of juniper, which burn very fiercely and retain their heat for a long time.

Verse 4. Sharp arrows] The Chaldee has, “The strong, sharp arrows are like lightning from above, with coals of juniper kindled in hell beneath.” On the juniper, see Clarke’s note on “Job 30:4”, where this passage is explained. Fiery arrows, or arrows wrapped about with inflamed combustibles, were formerly used in sieges to set the places on fire. See Clarke’s notes on “Eph 6:16”.

Verses 2-4. Deliver my soul from lying lips — From the unjust censures and malicious slanders of mine enemies; and from a deceitful tongue — Which covers mischievous designs under pretences of kindness. What shall be given unto thee — By the righteous Judge of heaven and earth; thou false tongue — O thou false accuser, or slanderer, or whosoever thou art, that art guilty of any such like practices? Sharp arrows of the mighty — The wrath and vengeance of the almighty God, which in Scripture, and particularly in this book, is often compared to arrows, as Psalm 7:13, 14, &c., and here to arrows of the mighty, that is, arrows shot by the hands of a strong man; and to coals, Psalm 140:10, and here to coals of juniper, which burn very fiercely, and retain their heat for a long time. And the psalmist may possibly express himself in these words, to show the suitableness of the punishment to the sin. As if he had said, As thy tongue shoots arrows, (as calumnies are often called,) and kindles coals, so thou shalt bring God’s arrows and coals, kindled by the fire of his wrath, upon thyself.

4. Sharp arrows of the mighty—The retributions of God shall pierce the soul as the sharpened arrows of the warrior penetrate the flesh. Coals of juniper—The µtr, (rothem,) answering to the Arabic retem, improperly translated “juniper,” is the broom tree, a notable shrub in Arabia Petrea. Thus Robinson: “One of the principal shrubs we met with is the retem, a species of broom plant, Genista roetam of Forskal. This is the largest and most conspicuous shrub of these deserts, growing thickly in the water courses and valleys.” So Burckhardt: “We here [in the peninsula of Mount Sinai] found several Bedouins occupied in collecting brushwood, which they burn into charcoal for the Cairo market. They prefer for this the thick roots of the shrub rothem, which grows here in abundance.” “The roots,” says Robinson, “are very bitter, and are regarded by the Arabs as yielding the best charcoal.” See Job 30:4, where, instead of meat, read sustenance, support. They followed charting the rothem as a livelihood— referred to as a poor business. This shrub also is used by the Arabs as a shelter by day and night, though a frail one. 1 Kings 19:4, 5. The intense heat of this charcoal, and the proverbial length of time that it holds fire, render it a fit emblem of severe punishment.

V. 5. Mesech-Mesech and Kedar are two sorts of people often mentioned in scripture, and reckoned amongst the barbarous nations. But their names are here to be understood metaphorically. And so he explains himself in the next verse.

Verse 5. That I sojourn in Mesech] The Chaldee has it, “Wo is me that I am a stranger with the Asiatics, (yaswa useey,) and that I dwell in the tents of the Arabs.” Calmet, who understands the Psalm as speaking of the state of the captives in Babylon and its provinces, says, “Meshec was apparently the father of the Mosquians, who dwelt in the mountains that separate Iberia from Armenia, and both from Colchis. These provinces were subjugated by Nebuchadnezzar; and it is evident from 2 Kings 17:23, 24; 18:11; 19:12, 13, that many of the Jews were held in captivity in those countries. As to Kedar, it extended into Arabia Petræa, and towards the Euphrates; and is the country afterwards known as the country of the Saracens.”

Verse 5. Wo is me that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar — Mesech and Kedar are two sorts of people often mentioned in Scripture, and reckoned among the barbarous nations. But their names are here to be understood metaphorically, and so he explains himself in the next verse.

Verse 5. Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech, and dwell in the tents of Kedar; two races descended from Ishmael, and famed for wickedness. The words are therefore figurative of the Hebrews, who equalled them in wickedness.

5. Mesech… Kedar—The Septuagint and Vulgate, following the radical sense of the word, render “Mesech” by prolonged: “Woe is me that my sojourning is prolonged.” But the word is to be taken as a proper name, the patronymic of a people descended from Meshech, son of Japheth, (Genesis 10:2,) and known in history as the Moschi, dwelling near the southeastern shore of the Black Sea, north of Armenia. Later, they penetrated southward into Cappadocia, (Jos. Ant. b. i, c. 6, § 1,) and northward beyond the Caucasian mountains, and probably reappear in Europe under the name of Muscovites. They commonly stand associated with the Tibareni, (from Tubal, Genesis 10:2,) as in Ezekiel 27:13; 32:26; 38:2, 3. (Herod., b. vii, c. 78.) In our psalm the name “Mesech,” or Meshech, is a synonyme for northern barbarians, as “Kedar,” (son of Ishmael, Genesis 25:13,) was for Ishmaelites, or southern barbarians. On “Kedar,” as the common title for northern Arabians, see Song of Solomon 1:5; Isaiah 21:13, 16, 17; Ezekiel 27:21. Meshech and Magog had to the Hebrews the same proverbial sense of unsubdued barbarians that Scythian had to the Greeks; and it was but a natural association with “Kedar” in the mind of David, dwelling, as he now was, among these wild desert robbers. See, on his place of abode, 1 Samuel 25:1.

Verse 6. My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace.] A restless, barbarous, warlike, and marauding people.

6. My soul hath long dwelt—Literally, Much has dwelt my soul with herself, with, or near, him that hateth peace. The want of companionship—congeniality with those about him—compelled the psalmist inwardly to a life of introspection, self-communion, and solitude.

Verse 7. I am for peace] We love to be quiet and peaceable; but they are continually engaged in excursions of rapine and plunder. It is evident that the psalmist refers to a people like the Scenitæ or wandering Arabs, who live constantly in tents, and subsist by robbery; plundering and carrying away all that they can seize. The poor captives wished them to cultivate the arts of peace, and live quietly; but they would hear of nothing but their old manner of life.

7. I am for peace—Hebrew, I peace. I am all peace. See this same form Psalm 109:4. When I speak, they are for war—My pacific words are construed into strategic decoys. They are so full of war and treachery that they are wholly incapable of friendly conference. The contrast between the psalmist and his enemies is only an example of the eternal dissonance between the spirit of Christ and the spirit of the world. It is worthy of remark that lying, deceit, robbery, and hostility to strangers are characteristic vices of the Arabs to this day. It may further be noticed, that David’s residence in Paran closes the bitterest part of his wandering life during the persecutions of King Saul. Thenceforward a milder light beamed on his fortunes.